How to Develop an App Like DoorDash

Did you know almost 60% of restaurant owners have agreed that offering food delivery service has helped them generate more sales? So the question is - should you invest in the food delivery sector? Well, you should. Here’s why:

Amidst the pandemic, the food delivery app market slowed down and managed to cross only $30 billion in the USA. However, the current food delivery segment is expected to cross US$1.22tn in 2024, highlighting customers' interest in the concept of food delivery.

Speaking of successful food delivery apps, we cannot overlook DoorDash, which has positioned itself as a market leader. Its business growth and revenue source have made people wonder- how to develop an app like DoorDash and what is the food delivery app development cost.

If you are also wondering the same, we have got you covered. In this blog, we will discuss everything related to building the DoorDash clone app:

Let’s begin!

Online Food Delivery Statistics

These figures suggest that now is the right time to invest in the food delivery market. So, hire the best mobile app development company in USA and follow these steps to develop a powerful app like DoorDash.

How to Make an App like DoorDash in 2024?

Follow this step-by-step guide to develop a DoorDash clone app:

1. Research and Analyze the Market

The first step to building an app like DoorDash is conducting thorough research and market analysis. It will help you gauge the feasibility and sustainability of your project.

Meticulously research your direct and indirect competitors to gain a deeper understanding of the existing market. It will also help you best cater to the needs of your audience.

2. Choose a Food Delivery Model

You can choose from different food delivery models. But we have researched and listed 3 of the best ones:

Order-Only Model

Under this model, you can create a food delivery app that is equipped only to allow delivery orders. Upon receiving the food order, you simply have to forward it to the restaurant so they can timely prepare and dispatch the order.

Order-and-Delivery Model

Under this model, businesses can process, send, and deliver orders. Restaurants only prepare the orders whereas delivery app platforms handle the overall delivery.

Restaurant-Specific Order

Under this model, restaurant owners take delivery and parcel orders directly from the app. They prepare and dispatch the food themselves, focusing on personalization and branding along the way as required.

Depending on your business requirements, you can choose one of the given models.

3. Select a Monetization Strategy

The next step requires you to decide on the monetization or revenue growth strategy you wish to follow to earn from your app. You can choose from four common monetization models:

Commission-Based

Under this model, you can charge users based on the delivery or service fee. To charge as per delivery fee, you can set a reasonable amount by considering factors like the distance between the delivery address and the restaurant. Or you can charge restaurants a small amount for using your DoorDash-clone app. Try keeping the initial fee low so restaurants choose you over others.

Advertising-Based

Under this model, you can charge advertisers who use your platform to show their ads. Restaurants can choose from different types of ads, like banner ads, playable ads, video ads, and interstitial ads. However, this monetization strategy requires you to have a strong base of recurring users and reach.

Surge Pricing

Under this monetization strategy, you can charge users as per peak factor or surge price by considering factors like time of day, number of users, influx in total number of orders, and local weather.

Subscription

Under this monetization strategy, you can encourage users to spend money to unlock premium features, which include free delivery, vouchers, promotions, no minimum order requirement, and special offers.

4. Choose Mobile App Development Company

Hire a reliable on-demand food delivery app development company to start building the mobile app from scratch. You can either go with a team of developers or an app development company. Your possible options include hiring freelancers, hiring an in-house development team, or outsourcing developers.

5. Choose Essential Features

To enhance the overall functionality of the DoorDash clone app, features are aggregated into three categories: customer panel, restaurant panel, and delivery panel. Each of these panels requires a different set of features.

Customer Panel

Customers of food delivery services will use your app for different objectives and require different features from your app. However, each customer requires a user-friendly, personalized, and engaging app interface.

Here are must-have features to include in the consumer panel of your DoorDash clone app:

Restaurant Panel

The restaurant panel feature revolves around customers’ usability, tracking the delivery partner, and receiving payments.

Here are must-have features to include in the restaurant panel of your DoorDash clone app:

Delivery Panel

Delivery panels’ features must be focused on the delivery man’s usability.

Here are must-have features to include in the delivery panel of your DoorDash clone app:

[Also Read - Top Mobile App Ideas For Restaurant And Food Industry 2022-23]

6. Choose Technology Stack

Below are some of the common tech stacks that you can use to create a DoorDash clone app:

7. Manage App Development

Regardless of how experienced your development team is or how much market research you've done, you will be shooting in the dark if you don’t optimize your developmental time frame. Consider these two steps when creating a delivery app to make sure development goes well:

Agile Methodology

Agile development helps you divide your project into manageable chunks so you can focus on smaller, more frequent delivery. By following this developing methodology, you can thoroughly examine every aspect of your food delivery app project while it is being developed. It guarantees a high-quality final product that is free from defects, bugs, and design flaws.

User Experience

Since you operate a food delivery service, the usability of your solutions is influenced by the user-friendly elements it can provide to users. Make sure your UI/UX designers create a very convenient and aesthetically pleasing UI interface design. It will guarantee higher revenue and user retention.

8.Test the Application

After developing a food delivery app like DoorDash, you need to test it internally and externally to ensure there are no errors. This step requires your close attention as it will eventually guarantee that your users have the best possible experience.

Take your time throughout the testing phase if you want your food delivery app to attract a strong user base. You can perform some common tests to check the functionality of your DoorDash clone app: Functional testing, UI testing, Configuration testing, Performance testing, Security testing, Recovery testing, Usability testing, and more.

9. Post-Launch Support and Maintenance

Planning for maintenance and support after launch is a crucial part of developing a food delivery app. Why? Once your app is live, users will either share their thoughts and experiences with it or report any bugs that you were unable to find beforehand.

Post-launch support and maintenance help incorporate user feedback to enhance the app and address potential issues. The quicker you address issues, the more reliable your app will appear to users, enhancing their experience.

Cost to Develop a Food Delivery App like DoorDash

Your project requirements, the features you want, the design guidelines, and the location of the developers directly impact the price of developing a food delivery app like DoorDash. So, you must carefully analyze these factors to find out the exact cost.

Here’s an average cost estimate for developing an AI food delivery app DoorDash:

Food delivery app development costs can also vary depending on the developer’s location:

[Also Read - How Much Does It Cost to Build An App: Complete Cost Breakdown]

Food Delivery Apps With the Most Users

Uber Eats

Started as a trial program, Uber Eats has now become a global powerhouse with over 88 million users. The company’s success can be measured in terms of revenue, which crossed $12.1 billion in 2023. Uber Eats allows users to order food from 890,000 restaurants in 11,000 different locations.

Just Eat Takeaway

In 2023, Just Eat Takeaway’s Gross Transaction Value (GTV) significantly increased in Northern Europe, the UK, and Ireland.

Just Eat Takeaway swiftly scaled its global food and retail presence by strategically expanding its offerings. This highlights a major improvement in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, going from €19 million in 2022 to €324 million in 2023.

Deliveroo

The year 2022 was a mixed bag of outcomes for Deliveroo - despite securing £1.9 billion in revenue (an 8.2% increase), the business experienced a large net loss. Followed by a 31% decline in the company's valuation after its IPO.

Meituan

Meituan, a well-known Chinese platform, saw remarkable growth in 2022. Along with food delivery and other services, their primary local commerce segment saw a strong 17.6% YoY revenue gain. The company’s operating profit increased by an impressive 56.8% from 2021 to 2022.

Conclusion

Protonshub Technologies has established itself as a prominent food delivery app development company. It offers custom solutions to make food delivery easy and efficient.

Regardless of your project requirements, our developers can help you turn your idea into a reality. So reach out to us today with your project requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Ekta Singh

"Senior Content Writer"

Ekta Singh is a rookie food experimentalist and k-drama fan with 4+ years of experience in writing. Bridging gaps between companies and customers through conversion-driven content is her forte. She believes in writing stories for a living and living life for exploring places.